Not All Autistic Students Hate Being In Quiet, Empty Rooms
This article can also be visible at https://write.as/non-monetized-together/not-all-autistic-students-hate-being-in-quiet-empty-rooms.
I know that there may be some good intentions among some of the activists who are trying to ban quiet rooms in schools. Which is why I’m writing this article to let them know that some autistic people actually find these rooms helpful.
Quiet rooms are soundproof, empty rooms that are used to help calm autistic students when they have a meltdown. While this concept might sound anxiety-provoking to non-autistics and some autistic people, these rooms can be beneficial to people on the autism spectrum who have to deal with sensory overload.
What is sensory overload? This is a term used to describe when someone receives more sensory information than their mind can process, sending their mind into a panic mode. The autistic population are much more likely to experience this than other people.
Because of this, quiet rooms are sometimes used whenever an autistic student experiences a meltdown. Sensory overload is a specifically neurodivergent experience, so I am worried that it’s being left out of the autism rights narrative for not being relatable enough to neurotypicals.
Not all autistic students find these rooms useful. Some even find it traumatic, as seen in the news article link above. But they work for some of us. I was reminded of this when reading Jim Irion’s article “A Conflict of Sensory Overload Proportions,” where he explains how quiet rooms could help him deal with his sensory overload. Reading this reminded me of when I was in school. These rooms successfully calmed me down too. Both Jim and I are autistic.
I’m not angry at the people who campaign against these rooms. Some of them may have been misled by sources that shut out the voices of people who enjoy the rooms.
Others may know about students who had positive experiences in these rooms but don’t mention them to preserve their political interests. This isn’t their fault, but rather the result of a broken political system motivated by competition, greed, feeling superior, and a lack of empathy. While I understand that this system is a natural consequence of democracy, I designed Nonmonetized Together to be a place where people of all political orientations can avoid those parts of the system.
Now, you finally get the opportunity to have online discussions that focus on understanding each other and creating a better world. This is because Nonmonetized Together functions as a publicly accessible “backstage” to the current political landscape. Here, people can remove themselves from their roles as political figures and critically discuss the world as it really is, instead of following their stage directions.
If you try to use Nonmonetized Together to gain power or bring your political opponents down (like in mainstream “competitive politics”), your efforts WILL be thwarted and you WILL make a fool of yourself. I will redirect your discussion to make it more appropriate for Nonmonetized Together. I know I can push Nonmonetized Together to achieve this goal because I devote myself to religion, not politicians, so I’m not politically motivated the same way others are.
